A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
Dear friends, I am writing with news that is deeply bittersweet. As you may have seen today, at the end of April, I will leave SAL to become the next Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. While I am thrilled to get to continue championing books and reading on a national scale, I will […]
Somewhere, deep in the valley, I sit in the darkness. I am reading; it is intriguing. As I sit reading, the words seem to fly off the page and into the night sky. The words seem to illuminate the meadow, illuminate the meadow in which I sit. The words seem to dig down deep inside […]
Zoë Mertz is a University of Washington student doing a remote internship with the Writers in the Schools program at SAL. After attending SAL’s recent Literary Arts Series event with Madeline Miller on January 27, Zoë reflects on her own obsession with retelling and adapting classic tales, as well as the anxiety—and the creative power—that […]
At a word, we jump, run, and jostle our way to a far corner, vying for a spot on the cushioned couch instead of the cold floor. We attempt to be quiet and hold in our laughter as we peek over the edge of the couch towards the door amidst scolding words from our teacher. […]
“There’s a reason Sappho wrote in her complex hexameter.” 2019/20 Youth Poet Laureate cohort member Maeve Kenney reads her poem “Ars Poetica,” which she performed before Madeline Miller’s 2020/21 Literary Arts Series event, presented on the digital SAL stage.
I am the breeze that hits you on a cold day I am the perfect but imperfect plant you try to grow I am the expected but unexpected snow on a chilling night I am the rain that disturbs a sunny day But I’m not the fresh-baked pie straight from the oven Or the perfect […]
We have a few new faces on the SAL Board of Directors to introduce to you over the coming weeks! Most of our board members began their SAL journey the same way you did as readers and event-goers. Learn about the moments that inspired them to get involved more deeply, what they do, where they […]
This essay is part of a series in which Poetry Northwest partners with Seattle Arts & Lectures to present reflections on visiting writers from the SAL Poetry Series. On Friday, January 22, Maggie Smith will read and discuss her work at 7:30 pm PST. Subscriptions and tickets to future events in the Poetry Series can […]
At the core of our mission is the belief that words matter. Yesterday, as we witnessed an insurrection and violence incited by the words of the president, that became yet again clear. What is also painfully clear is that the driving force behind this act was this country’s failure to renounce white supremacy—and it was […]
We have a few new faces on the SAL Board of Directors to introduce to you over the coming weeks! Most of our board members began their SAL journey the same way you did: as readers and event-goers. Learn about the moments that inspired them to get involved more deeply, what they do, where they […]